Hounded, Delhi gangrape victim’s family leaves Delhi

The 23-year-old gangrape victim’s family has been inundated with phone calls and visitors since their return early on Sunday.

Visitors, mostly politicians, kept pouring into their home and the family hardly got any time to mourn the death of their daughter.

On Monday, the family flew to Varanasi and went straight to Ballia, where villagers lined up to receive them. They will complete the last rites and immerse her ashes in the Ganges on Tuesday.

The family was finding it tough to cope with the unwanted attention and this is why they decided to leave for their village, sources said. A local Congress leader arranged the flight tickets for the family.

The victim’s male friend who was with her on the fateful night has also returned to his hometown Gorakhpur after assisting investigators in identifying the culprits and helping them compile a chargesheet against the six accused.

The friend, a software engineer, had left Delhi on Saturday, hours before the victim’s body was brought to Delhi from Singapore, and did not even attend her funeral on Sunday morning.

Although the father of the software engineer claimed that he and his son had attended the funeral, a senior investigating officer rejected his claim. They did not turn up despite requests, the officer said.

The father of the youth told the officer that a hairline fracture was detected in his son’s leg during a magnetic resonance imaging conducted on Friday.

“The doctor has advised him to restrict his movement and this is the reason why they took him back home,” added the officer.